It is doubtless true that Christ meant to teach a practical lesson with reference to our tender watch-care of the little ones during His third brief interview with His disciples, after His resurrection. We read:
"So, when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith to him, yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
"He saith unto him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.
He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
"He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?
Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep."
Amid such a scene so truthfully depicted in the above narrative, we behold the insecurity of the children. What a sad sight. An intemperate father and no Bible in the house. What a statement in this land of Bibles! Oh, what fearful consequences hang upon the conduct of parents.
What would become of the ma.s.ses in the lower part of the city, were it not for our truly devoted Bible women? What victories for Christ and His Church have been achieved--who can tell?
The cheering light that dawned upon the deeply bereaved mother when her boy was killed, is beheld as we, in imagination, take our stand by the bedside with them, and hear that sorrow-stricken mother exclaiming, "_that the Lord was helping her_." This is a striking proof that He who comforted Martha and Mary, at Bethany, was in that tenement-house, saying once again, "I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in me, though he were dead yet shall he live." Yes, helping her to look beyond this vale of tears, and say even amid the loss of her darling boy, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." Surely the language of Job must have been experienced on an occasion like the above. "When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me: Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow"s heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame."--Job xxix. 11-15.
There is a very comforting reflection for bereaved parents in Dr.
Payson"s "Comparison of Departed Children to Jewels." To a mother mourning the death of a child, he said:
"Suppose, now, some one was making a beautiful crown for you to wear, and you knew it was for you, and that you were to receive it and wear it as soon as it should be done. Now, if the maker of it were to come, and in order to make the crown more beautiful and splendid, were to take some of _your jewels_ to put into it, should you be sorrowful and unhappy because they were taken away for a little while, when you knew they were gone to make up your crown?"
In endeavoring humbly to interpret the language of the deceased, and, at the same time, call attention to her superior magnanimity of heart, I would not for a moment dare to make it appear that I was compromising human merit with the free, rich grace of our Heavenly Father, so richly displayed in His imparted _power_ to His children, enabling them to do valiantly in the salvation of souls. This power is the presence of the Holy Spirit in the heart. Just listen to the closing sentence of the last paragraph: "_I can truly say of myself I can do nothing!_" though I can also, I hope, add, "_I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me_." Ah! here is the secret of distinguished merit in the great conflict against all the forms of evil in the world. The instruction to the disciples were to tarry until they received this Divine strength. Tarry, how? Well, let us read the record:
"To whom also He shewed himself alive after his pa.s.sion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of G.o.d: And, being a.s.sembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, sayeth he, ye have heard of me. _For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence._ When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."
And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight."--Acts i. 3-9.
CHAPTER XXVI.
PEACE THROUGH BELIEVING.
Oh, the unsearchable riches of Christ!
Wealth that can never be told;-- Riches exhaustless of mercy and grace, Precious, more precious than gold!
At the sixty-eighth annual meeting of the New York Female Auxiliary Bible Society, the Rev. Dr. William M. Taylor, in his earnest masterly address on the occasion, happily said:
"In the prosecution of the excavations at Pompeii, the workmen laid bare an ancient spring, the water of which, as soon as it was set free, flowed forth as copiously as ever, and carried refreshment with it wherever it went. For centuries it had been buried beneath the ashes of the volcano, but the moment it was again uncovered, it sent out its stream of blessing with all its pristine fulness and wholesome influence.
"Something like that was the work which Martin Luther did for the fountain of truth in the Sacred Scriptures. For many generations that had been virtually stopped up by the rubbish of tradition and entombed beneath the weight of authority, but by his st.u.r.dy strength, his steady persistence and his dauntless courage, he dug it clear again; and it became once more, as at the first, the well-head of the river of progress among the nations."
What was said of the great German Reformer can be truthfully applied to this humble mother in Israel.
At the above meeting it was stated that this Missionary woman in her advanced age made four hundred and forty visits in two months, she had read the Scriptures in many homes, prayed with a large number, comforted dying believers with Christian song, administered first aid to the injured; thus bringing into practical use the instructions _she_ had received, and receiving the commendations of physicians, distributed religious reading, and suspended the "Words of Life" in the rooms of the sick. Streams from this uncovered fountain of truth are turned by the cheerful, willing, working hands, heads, and hearts of our Bible women into human habitations in this city, where degradation, poverty, drunkenness, vice, and squalor sink the inmates to the level of brutes.
The cleansing waters, as if by magic, convert these dark places into homes of joy and brightness, sobriety, industry, cleanliness, and G.o.dliness.
The effulgence born of the l.u.s.tre of Christ drives out the darkness of sin and sorrow, and the thoughts of regenerated souls are indeed carried upward to the throne of G.o.d. All sorts and conditions of men, all varieties of human life, find their adaptation in the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Later on she writes: "During the month of January, 1876, I have been greatly encouraged in various ways. Knowing how many were the wants, and how small the means for supplying them during the present winter, I called on my old friend, Mr. M., at his place of business, and telling him how low our funds were, as he always took an interest in our work, he gave me twenty dollars for the Society. Much encouragement has also been afforded me by seeing some, among whom I have been laboring for years, brought to Christ, and those of whom I had the least hope, now testifying their love for the Saviour. It is not more than three or four weeks since they began to attend church, and since then it is surprising to witness the change. They have risen in the prayer-meeting and told what the Lord had done for their souls.
"One of those women, when I visited her, told me when I asked her to attend church, that the devil was her best friend; he helped her out of all her difficulties, by lying and cheating, and she intended to give herself entirely to him. Such an expression falling from the lips of any one, but especially from one for whom I have been watching and praying for years, rendered me almost speechless; but I kissed her, and saying there would be no use in my calling on her again, as she had settled in indifference, I left her. In a few days she sent for me, and I had another interview with her, which resulted in a promise, on her part, to attend church. She did not do so for some weeks. A noon-day prayer-meeting was then established in our church, and I invited her there. In a few days she came, and since then has been attending both noon and evening meetings, and coming to church. She has risen to ask prayers for herself, her husband, and children, and a dear old mother, nearly eighty years of age, still out of the ark of safety.
"Last Sabbath morning, upon entering the church, and seeing a stranger in my pew, I could not express the feeling of joy that filled my soul, upon discovering this was the same woman, now come to the house of G.o.d, having exchanged masters, and forsaken the territory of Satan, anxious to become the servant of Christ, and receive the gift of G.o.d which is eternal life, instead of the wages of sin, which is death; and which, a short time since, she avowed herself determined to secure.
"Another woman with whom I had talked about the sin of her encouraging a love for dress and pleasure in her young daughter, acknowledged the truth of what I said, and has since attended church, and undoubtedly been brought to Christ. Her husband, also, who had not set his foot in a church for fifteen years, but spent all his leisure time in a liquor store, and a.s.sociated with a rough cla.s.s of men, according to his own statements concerning himself, believes he has found the Saviour, and attends the meetings regularly. A few evenings since he told me he had to watch himself very closely, as he had become habituated to profane swearing. The change that has been made in him is remarkable. It appears clear to my mind that nothing but a Divine power could have effected it.
"Another case is that of a young girl who was brought to the meeting by her mother. She is so impressed herself, that her great concern is for others with whom she has been a.s.sociated, to induce them to attend, the language of her heart being, "Come with us, and we will do thee good, for the Lord has spoken good concerning Israel."
"There is a great outpouring of the Spirit in our midst; we have unmistakable evidence of it. We have but to "open our mouths wide that we may be filled with it." All are ready to hear and learn, and we are in every way encouraged to labor on with our whole hearts, knowing that if we are strong, and of good courage, G.o.d will not fail in the performance of His promises.
"Our sewing-school is also improving; the children in good behavior; the mothers are asking, in many cases, for Bibles, while the Sunday-school is filling up so fast, we cannot get a sufficient number of teachers.
"There are many cases of sickness in my district, and a great deal of distress, occasioned by want of work.
"I made about one hundred and sixty visits during the month, and sold but one Bible."
Her grat.i.tude, when any kind-hearted friend like the above gave of their substance, to carry on the Lord"s work, was unbounded. Also, when those among whom she labored for years were brought to confess Christ, by testifying at the meetings. Oh! how true are the words of Malachi: "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened, and heard it: and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels."
No spot on earth was so dear to her heart as the house of G.o.d, hence the expression: "_I could not express the feeling_ of joy that filled my soul upon discovering this was the same woman, now come to the house of G.o.d, having exchanged masters." She evidently entered into the feelings of David when he said of the Church, as the recognized holy spouse of G.o.d: "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord, my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living G.o.d."
Her practical piety is continually manifested, not only by her strenuous exertions to save souls, but in the recognition of Divine power in the execution. She says, "The change is remarkable. It appears clear to my mind that nothing but Divine power could have effected it."
The doctrine of the personality of the Holy Spirit is here brought to our view, strongly reminding us that it is not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
CHAPTER XXVII.
DRAWN BY THE CORDS OF LOVE.
Blest Saviour, slain for me, In grateful love to Thee The cross I bear; Thou didst for me endure, My pardon to insure, And thus for me secure A Crown to wear.
"One poor woman," she writes, "asked me to call and see her, as she wished to tell me her troubles. She said she was afraid to believe that G.o.d loved her. I have seldom seen any one in such ecstacy as she, when she was told that G.o.d loves her with an everlasting love, and that she need not be afraid to trust Him, as the more she rejoices in Him, the more she would glorify Him."
The earnest desire of Paul for the Church at Colosse was: "That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full a.s.surance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of G.o.d, and of the Father, and of Christ; in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
GRATEFUL OFFERING OF A SAVED SOUL.
She writes again thus: "One woman, to whom I took a Bible, said to me, "_If it had not been for you I should have died in ignorance_." Although she is poor, two Sabbaths since when a collection was taken, she put down her name for two dollars. She says, "she can never thank the Lord enough for bringing her out of darkness into light."
"I visit a woman who endures great agony from cancer. She lives alone, in a tenement house, poor and friendless, having been driven from her home by her relatives because she has become a Protestant. But she has a firm trust in G.o.d, and it is indeed wonderful to see how she is supported amid terrible sufferings. She cannot read, having never learned, but says, "I thank G.o.d that He sends His servants to read the Bible to such as I.""